The Story So Far
Prologue Two adventurers from different upbringings, Thorin Bulwark the human paladin and Xanaphia Springblossom the half-elf bard, each agreed to help an old acquaintance escort a wagon load of supplies from Neverwinter to the nearby town of Phandalin. Gundren Rockseeker, the dwarven acquaintance, departed a day before the adventurers with his friend Sildar Hallwinter, saying he needs to "take care of business" first. Thorin and Xanaphia traveled a few days along the High Road before veering east on the Triboar Trail without trouble, until... Chapter One The Road to Phandalin In the road before Thorin and Xanaphia were two dead horses, arrows sticking off of them. Quick to act, Xanaphia tried to conjure forth an illusion of a man inspecting the horses in order to trick a possible ambusher, but the spell fizzled. Thorin decided to inspect the horses himself. Chaos ensured when two goblins revealed themselves on the sides of the road and attacked! Lucky their aim was off, and in one inspiring moment, Xanaphia managed to charm one of the goblins with her flute while Thorin ran back to the wagon to protect it. The bard turned her focus on the other goblin. With a string of insults, finely intertwined with enchantments, she cast her Vicious Mockery. The goblin was hit! However, now angry, the goblin turned his aim at the half-elf. His arrow was true and penetrated her leather armor on her arm. Another string of vicious mockery followed while the slippery goblin vanished among the foliage. With a moment of brilliant thinking and a bit of luck, Thorin threw his hand-axe blindly into the bushes and killed the goblin. Thorin and Xanaphia took a moment to question their charmed goblin captive. From it they learned that the goblins followed their leader, Klarg, who was under the command of their king, King Grol. The goblin revealed that a few days earlier a messenger goblin from King Grol arrived and said that someone called the "Black Spider" was paying them to capture a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker and bring him and anything he carries to King Grol. His companion, a human, was taken to the "eating cave". Having nothing to learn from the goblin any more, Thorin tried to knock the creature out, but killed it instead with a lethal blow to the head. Thorin and Xanaphia scouted the area and found a trail leading north towards the "eating cave", as shown by the goblin on a map owned by Xanaphia. They tied off the oxen and wagon to a nearby tree, rested, and then set out to rescue Sildar Hallwinter (Gundrin's human companion) from the man-eating goblins. The Cragmaw Hideout Following the goblin trail to the North, Thorin and Xanathia was met by a series of traps aimed to keep unwanted visitors out. The first trap was a snare. Thorin, walking in front, did not see it, but managed to quickly jump out of the way as the trap went off. After a quick investigation of the area, the trap was found to be goblin made. They continued along the road, and Thorin set off a second trap: a pit cleverly disguised by leaves to blend in with the forest floor. After about an hour of travel, the party arrived at the Cragmaw Hideout: a system of caves inside a large hill. Cautiously they entered. The cave was filled with tunnels; most of the passages having steep, sloping ceilings covered with stalagmites and stalactites. The cave itself was dark and has a dank smell, and the sound of rushing water muffled any loud noises. Thorin and Xanaphia followed the steep upward slope, a stream of shallow water flowing to their left. They noticed a room to their right. A few uneven stone steps lead up to a small chamber. The cave narrowed to a steep fissure at the far end and was filled with the stench of animals. The savage snarls and the sounds of rattling chains greeted their ears where two wolves were chained up just inside the opening. The party decided to leave the wolves and continued up the cave. As they advanced through the cave, they noticed a small rickety bridge of wood and rope spanning over the passage ahead of them, creating a path for another passage a few feet in the air. On it, they noticed a goblin lookout! With the bard's magic and a quick throw of the paladin's hand-axe, the goblin had little time to react and fell down. Thorin and Xanaphia continued along the slope, under the bridge, and advanced up stone stairs into a large cavern. The cavern was half filled with two large pools, each separated from the other with large rocks. A narrow waterfall on the east filled the pools, which drained out at the western end of the cavern to form the stream flowing out of the whole cave. A wide exit stood to the south, while a smaller passage lead west. Inside the cavern, two goblins were resting. A fight broke out as one goblin ran to fight Thorin head on, while the other rained arrows down from afar onto Xanaphia. As Thorin wailed away at his opponent with his mighty warhammer, Xanaphia, eager to make quick end of the fight, ran to the middle of the room. She jumped into the air, and as she came down, a powerful wave of thunder ripped through the cavern, flinging both goblins into the walls. The powerful thunderwave also collapsed the stone walls in the pools, causing a flood to rush through the passage and out of the Cragmaw Hideout. The Rescue of Sildar Hallwinter Thorin and Xanaphia entered the large cave to the south. Sacks and crated of looted provisions were piled up against the southern wall. Many of them had a picture of a blue lion against a white background. To the west, the floor sloped downward towards a narrow opening that descended into darkness. In the middle of the room, the coals of a large fire smoldered. The party entered with caution. And just as well, from behind one of the stalagmites towering along the walls, a large bugbear emerged. "Who dares to defy the mighty Klarg!" he roared. Behind him, a wolf appeared. Thorin, seeing an opportunity, rushed in and slaughtered Klarg's pet wolf with a single blow. Xanaphia, quick to follow, stringed together her words of mockery intertwined with enchantments and aimed it on the bugbear. With a great roar of anger and grief, Klarg swung his club out at Thorin, but missed. Thorin grabbed Klarg and the two wrestled. Thorin managed to get the upper hand and shoved the bugbear into the smoldering coals in the middle of the room. Xanaphia sprung into the fray with her trusty rapier and pierced away at the weakened enemy. As Klarg got to his feet and moved out of the heat of the coals, he swung his large club around, bludgeoning Thorin. Xanaphia managed to slash at the bugbear yet again. Outmatched and clearly losing to the one-sided fight, Klarg started to flee towards the narrow opening to the west of the cave. Thorin rushed forward, and with a final swing of his warhammer, the bugbear was knocked out cold. Thorin and Xanaphia decided to quickly search the crates and bags for something useful, finding it was filled with mostly weapons. Xanaphia expressed her concern over Sildar who is still in the eating cave, and probably eaten by now, and so the party moved across the rickety bridge in search of their human ally. The narrow passage lead to a large cave, divided in half by a steep escarpment. A steep natural staircase lead from the lower portion of the room to the upper ledge. The air was hazy with the smell of smoke, burning food and unwashed goblins. As a matter of fact, two goblins were sitting besides a cooking pot on a small fire right that moment. As yet another fight broke out between the adventuring party and the two goblins, a larger goblin appeared at the top of the ledge and started helping his allies. One goblin was quickly swept aside, while his smarter, slippery friend used the stalagmites as cover to quick attack and then hide. His strategy proved successful; Xanaphia was injured. With a mighty blow, Thorin caved in the scull of the slippery goblin as it tried to escape. "Truce, or the human dies!" Yeemik, the goblin on the ledge, yelled as he dragged an unconscious Sildar to the edge of the escarpment. The paladin and the bard started to parley with the goblin, who revealed he wanted the head of Klarg, the leader of the tribe, so that he may become their leader. The party tried to convince him that Klarg was already dead, but Yeemik believed non of it. Xanaphia managed to intimidate Yeemik, saying that by killing Klarg, he would become hated by his goblin allies. Yeemik settled on a gold price instead, offering to give up the human for a ransom. In a moment of excellent thinking, Thorin gave the goblin the gold. As Yeemik released Sildar, Xanaphia shoved him off the ledge. Sildar was saved. Phandalin After tending to Sildar's wounds and listening to the history of Phandelver, Thorin, Xanaphia and Sildar finally set off to the town of Phandalin. Upon their arrival they delivered the supplies to Barthren's Provisions, as instructed by Gundren Rockseeker, and then made towards The Stonehill Inn to rest for the night. The town of Phandalin consists out of fifty or so simple log buildings, some built on old fieldstone foundations. Here and there is an old crumbling stone ruin, its walls covered in thick briars and ivy, surrounded by newer houses and shops. Most of the newer houses are set along the cart track, which opens into a wide, muddy main street, which eventually goes uphill to an old, ruined manor on the east side of town. The next day, Thorin sets out to the Lionshield Coster to buy a few weapons and items, while Xanaphia stays in the inn to try and find out about local rumors and the like. The adventurers learn about the Redbrands: a group of ruffians that has been terrorizing and mugging the townsfolk for a few months. They learn of their location up the main street called the Sleeping Giant. Deciding to confront the Redbrand Ruffians, Thorin and Xanaphia set out towards their location. The Sleeping Giant is a ramshackle taproom. On its wooden porch, two bulky human figures linger; one sitting on an empty wine barrel and the other leaning against the doorframe. When the party approached, one of the thugs spit on the ground. "Well, well, well," he snarled. "A whole pack a little puppies. What do you want, puppies? Came to bark at us?" They laughed. An inevitable brawl broke out between the thugs and the adventurers. Thorin bashed away at one thug with his warhammer while Xanaphia showed off her fine skills with the rapier. After knocking one of the thugs out, his friend tried to flee, but not before shooting two arrows rapidly at Thorin and hitting him. Thorin and Xanaphia failed to stop the Redbrand Ruffian from escaping towards Tresendar Manor to the east, but they now had one of them as captive. Binding their captive with rope, Thorin and Xanaphia decided to take the ruffian to the local prison to interrogate him when he regains consciousness. The town major was not as cooperative as they hoped, however, and refused to take the ruffian as prisoner. Thorin and Xanaphia decided to take him to their room at the inn then, instead. The ruffian was interrogated and revealed that the Redbrand Ruffians were led by a wizard named Glasstaff. He also revealed that their base of operations was beneath Tresendar Manor, east of Phandalin, and that they kept prisoners inside the crypts. Chapter Two Tresendar Manor Lead by their prisoner, Thorin and Xanaphia went to Tresendar Manor and found a staircase leading down to a cellar. The doors of the cellar opened up to a platform suspended 3 meters into the air. Stairs on both sides of the platform led to two lower platforms before ending at the floor of the basement. The northern platform had a door connecting to another room. The cellar itself had wooden barrels along the walls. Against the western wall was a short stone ledge, creating a small pool of water. North of the pool was a door. As soon as they gathered on the platform, the captive Redbrand yelled for help. Three armed ruffians stormed into the room as the captive was kicked off the ledge and fell to his death. The ruffians quickly overpowered Thorin and Xanaphia with arrows and swords alike. Their advance was broken when Xanaphia ran to the middle of the room and unleashed a wave of thunder, heavily damaging all the ruffians and knocking them back. Unfortunately, two of them were knocked closer to Thorin who was still on the staircase. The paladin strategically moved up the stairs. As his pursuers followed, he kicked one off the platform, causing him to fall off. The ruffian with his bow took aim at Xanaphia who was nearby. His arrows pierced through her armor and she was knocked unconscious. Thorin ran to the aid of his companion, throwing his war hammers at the ruffian as he did so. It managed to hit the Redbrand, but it was not enough to take him down. The Redbrand quickly retaliated, however, and his two swift arrows knocked the dwarf unconscious as well. The surviving Redbrand Ruffian, filled with the joy of victory, rushed up the staircase and through the door, calling for his friends to come and look. As he disappeared, Xanaphia regained consciousness and used her healing to stabilize Thorin. As footsteps sounded in the halls nearby, the party fled from Tresendar Manor and took shelter at the inn. The next day they started asking around the Stonehill Inn for rumors, hoping to find more insight to the manor. The barmaid, a plump woman named Elsa, shared that recently a boy named Pip had a run inn with the Redbrand Ruffians. Toblin Stonehill, the innkeeper also talked about Daran Edermath, a retired adventurer that might know something. The party split up. Xanaphia went to the Alderleaf farm where she met Pip and his mother, Quillene Alderleaf. Pip shared his encounter with the Redbrand Ruffians, saying he found a secret entrance to the Manor while playing in the woods when three "big ugly guys" came out. Luckely they did not see him. His mother Quillene, have heard of the adventurers looking to find the Cragmaw Castle, and told them that her lifelong friend, Reidoth the druid, can be found in the ruined town of Thundertree. According to her, Reidoth knows every inch of the land. While Xanaphia was at the Alderleaf farm, Thorin head to Edermath Orchard to talk to Daran, the retired adventurer. Daran expressed his dislike in the Ruffians and urged Thorin to take care of them. He also told Thorin that prospectors camping in the hills nearby spoke of being chased away from Old Owl Well, a watchtower to the west, by undead creatures. He asked Thorin to take a look at it. Return to Stonehill Inn to discuss their next course of action, Xanaphia and Thorin decided to re-enter Tresendar Manor via the secret passage. Tresendar Manor Revisited At the end of the secret passage, Thorin and Xanaphia found themselves in a large cavern with a high ceiling. A crevasse ran through the center of the room; two wooden bridges at the north and south of the cavern spanning over it. From behind one of the stone pillars, a strange alien creature appeared. Its giant eye focused on the dwarf and half-elf, and with it telepathic speaking it asked, "have you brought me something to eat?" Xanaphia talked to the creature, who demanded food, and eventually persuaded it to go look in one of the others rooms for food. The creature stalked off and left the adventurers at peace. Thorin and Xanaphia took a corridor on the western side of the cavern. After decending deeper into the hideout, the corridor ended with two door opposite each other. Thorin leaned against the southern door, hearing a gruff voice insulting and taunting. With their weapon drawn, the party burst through the unlocked door, only to be faced with a bugbear and a small, badly beaten up goblin. They fought the goblinoid, which was now backed up against the wall. Thorin landed the killing blow on the bugbear and looted a key from it: the key to the manor. As they left the room, Thorin locked the door with the small goblin still inside. They investigated the other door, hearing cheerful voices and laughs. Thorin strongly suspected the room might be occupied by four humanoids, and so they decided not to disturb the room. Moving back into the large cavern split by the crevasse, they moved north to find another passage leading west, once again ending with two doors opposite one another. One connected to the room with the laughing and talking people, so they inspected the room to the north instead. Inside they found all kinds of alchemist apparatus: tubes and coils connected to vials and flasks. Colored liquids bubbled through the tubes, and notes and books were strewn around everywhere. A mouse ran across the floor. Among the books, Thorin found a tome containing the history of Phandalin, as well as the history on the Spell Forge, which spoke of a lost magical mace named "Lightbringer". The alchemist workshop was connected to a small bedroom containing a bed with a wooden chest at its foot, and a desk. Thorin searched the chest, finding many golden coins, a few valuable stones and three vials. One contained liquid mercury, one contained a viscous red liquid (dragon's blood), and one contained a powdered purple substance (powdered nightshade). On the desk they found a curious note, signed with a picture of a black spider. “Lord Albrek, my spies in Neverwinter tell me that strangers are due to arrive in Phandalin. They could be working for the dwarves. Capture them if you can, kill them if you must, but don’t allow them to upset our plans. See that any dwarven maps in their possession are delivered to me with haste. I’m counting on you Iarno. Don’t disappoint me. The Black Spider.” Indeed, Iarno Albrek, the wizard Sildar was looking for, is Glasstaff and he is working with the Black Spider! They returned to the large cavern. To the north was a store room that contained empty crates and dried animal skins. To the south was the passage the Nothic disappeared into. They followed it, and at the end found a secret passage leading to the cellar (where they almost died the day before). The Nothic was nowhere to be seen. Taking the door on the northern wall, they found themselves in a passage leading west to large double doors with a silver angel worked onto it. They they strode along the corridor, Thorin activated the floor trap that it contained, but managed to jump out of the way in time. Luckely two ledges on the sides of the floor trap provided enough space to cross it. Through the doors Thorin and Xanaphia went and found themselves in a crypt. Three dusty old coffins with a skeleton each lined the western wall. But as the adventurers crossed the room to enter through a door in the northern wall, the skeletons became animated and attacked the party! Thorin and Xanaphia easily disposed of the skeletons, leaving their crumbled bones strewn across the floor. Xanaphia opens a door on the west side of the room and sneaks inside, revealing a woman and two children unconscious in a cell with two goblins guarding. Sneaking behind the chatting goblins, Xanaphia attempts to attack one of them, but somehow fumbles and misses the attack. Thorin quickly storms inside, surprising the goblins and hitting one, causing it to fly against the iron bars. Outrages and cursing, the goblin rushes to Thorin and slashes at him with his scimitar while his friend starts to attack the bard. Thorin quickly dispatches one of them, while the other fights relentlessly and manages to do quite a lot of damage to the adventurers. Eventually it is killed. After trying to slam the prison bars open with his warhammer, Thorin remembers he has the key. Xanaphia revives the human prisoners and the adventurers learn that the woman, Martha, and her two children, Sam and Rose, were kidnapped after Martha's husband stood up against the Redbrand Ruffians and got murdered by them. Thorin and Xanaphia tries to learn more from the prisoners regarding the Black Spider, but they have no idea who it is. Escorting them back to their home, Thorin and Xanaphia decides to rest for the night in the Stonehill Inn. Chapter 3 Thundertree and New Friends The next morning the party remembered that Reidoth the Druid knows the location of the goblin castle where Gundrin Rockseeker is kept prisoner, and decided to travel to Thundertree in search of him. Their trip was rather uneventful. Arriving at the ruined Thundertree, a small town long ago destroyed by a volcanic eruption and zombie attacks, they proceeded with caution into the first intact building, an old inn. Immediately after entering they were attacked by a zombie who raised from behind one of the tables inside the inn. Thorin dodged the attack and retaliated with his warhammer, enveloping the zombie in magical fire and igniting it. The zombie released a cloud of ash on which Xanaphia started choking. Nonetheless, the threw her dagger in the direction of the zombie and manages to hit it. From the adjacent room another zombie appeared as it bust through the door and swung its arms wildly at Thorin, but missed. Thorin attacked the first zombie, killing it, and then moved to behind the old counter to the east of the room. The remaining zombie follow and attacked the dwarf, just as Xanaphia entered again and attacked it with her vicious mockery which didn't seem to affect it at all. Thorin smashed the zombie with his warhammer and killed it outright. After searcing the rest of the building, Thorin and Xanaphia moved to the closest ruined building, an old cottage, and searched it, but only found it overgrown by weeds. Another ruined building nearby, however, was filled with nasty twig blights which starting attacking the adventurers. The first two twig blights missed their attacks, and one of them got killed by Thorin and his warhammer just as two more joined the fight from behind. Xanaphia, in one heroic attempt to even the battlefield, slammer her foot into the ground, causing a wave of thunder to erupt from the impact and killing all the remaining twig blights. Thorin and Xanaphia searched the room, and found a treasure chest hidden under old tree roots growing inside the building (that looks like it might have been a store once). The adjacent room, a small bedroom, revealed the corpse of another twig blight killed by the thunder wave, but contained nothing else of interest that the party could see. Just as they moved out of the ruined cottage, two zombies approached from the north. However, suddenly an elf on a white horse appeared from the south. He drew his bow and shot, hitting the zombie. A fight ensured. Xanaphia used her vicious mockery on the zombie. The zombie, somehow sad and angry, responded by trying to attack the dwarf and missed. Its friend stormed the elf on the horse and managed to get in and do some damage. The elf responded by sending a gust of poison in the zombie's face, but it didn't seem to be affected by the spell. Thorin, enraged, raised his hammer and when he brought it down, the zombie in front of him burst into flames and died in a pile of ash. The group made quick work of the remaining zombie. When the fight stopped, Xanaphia and Thorin started questioning the elf and his motives. They learned that he was Draco, an elf who was granted the powers of a sorcerer after saving a white dragon near his hometown. Thorin welcomed the sorcerer into the party, although Xanaphia was a bit skeptical to trust the stranger. Just then an old man appeared and called to them to follow him. Draco drew his bow while Thorin went closer to investigate. The old man, Reidoth the druid, simply started walking around the cottage, beckoning once more for the characters to follow. Eventually they started following him along a dusty road veering to the south. They stopped at an intact building, the windows bolted shut with wooden planks. He locked the door behind him, and angrily inquired what the adventurers were doing in Thundertree and why they made such a big commotion. The adventurers spoke to Reidoth and learned that he was keeping the evil forces within the town from spreading to the rest of the area. He showed them the location of Cragmaw Castle on their map and offered them shelter in his home, but warned them of going deeper into the ruined town and advised them not to visit the tower to the north. Despite his warnings, the adventurers went straight to the cottage opposite the druid's home to explore. The ruined building seemed empty except for plants and trees growing inside. It looked like it might have been an old farmhouse once. Just as they entered, two twig blights appeared and started to attack Thorin and Xanaphia with their sharp claws. Thorin blocked the attack with his shield while Xanaphia was hurt by the plant creature. Draco lifted his hands and sprayed a ray of poison at the twig blight, causing it to wither and die. Just then two more creatures appeared from behind Draco and attacked the elf. Xanaphia attacked one, but missed while Thorin remained inside the house. Just then one of the twig blights disappeared behind the house. The adventurers focused their attacks on the remaining creature, but it managed to dodge their attacks. From around the corner of the ruined building, the twig blight that ran away returned with two of his friends who all started attacking Draco, the closest target. Thorin jumped over one of the broken walls to protect the sorcerer. However, the sorcerer lifted his hands and spoke an incantation. Three bolts of magic darted through his fingers and hit each of the creatures, disposing of them all. Just then, two more creatures appeared from behind Xanaphia and started attacking her. Thorin, eager to help, jumped over the wall again but tripped and fell. Xanaphia whipped out her rapier and sliced one cleanly in half while the other was withered away by Draco's poison spray. The party decided to flee the ruined farmhouse in fear of more creatures appearing, and decided to move to the east along the dusty path uphill. The journey did not take long before they were stopped face to face with spider webs stretching from the foliage on their left to the buildings on their right. Xanaphia managed to spot two spiders on each side of the road, and the party decided to retreat before invoking the wrath of the creatures. Without any other options, Thorin, Xanaphia and Draco decided to visit the Cragmaw Castle to the south to save Gundrin. Cragmaw Castle The adventurers approached the castle from the east side, a huge ruin that must have been a spectacular castle once. Still a few of its original nine towers stood, but only barely. They sneaked around the castle to the front where the two metal doors lay on the ground, broken long ago. They entered, and were greeted with a room with a gaping hole in the roof and rubble littered across the room. Draco inspected one of the rooms to the south and saw a room filled with goblin servants scurrying around. The room seemed to be a banquet hall once, but is now only littered with dirty plates and rubble. Xanaphia searched the area for anything of interest and found a thin metal wire hanging a short distance above the floor to the east of the room. Just then, Draco decided to throw his dagger at the tripwire which sprung the trap. Xanaphia manage to jump away as boulders started to crash down, but not without taking a blow to her legs. Thorin decided to inspect one of the rooms to the northwest of the castle. As he opened the door, two golins stood ready with their bows aimed at Thorin and shot, both arrows deflected by the dwarf's armor. He went inside anyway, followed by Xanaphia while Draco waited outside. As the paladin disposed one of the goblins, a large hobgoblin appeared from one of the rooms to the north and stormed Draco. His longsword striked the elf, knocking him unconscious. Thorin ran out of the small room towards the hobgoblin and attacked it. The hobgoblin responded by attacking the paladin, hitting quite hard as yet another hobgoblin appeared to join the fight. Xanaphia got hit by the goblin trapped with her in the small room and could not retaliate since it was too nimble and dodged her attacks. Meanwhile, Thorin lifted his warhammer once more and brought it down upon the hobgoblin, incinerating it with divine fire, and turned his attacks to the other hobgoblin. Draco managed to regain consciousness and started to focus his attacks on the hobgoblin aswell while Xanaphia finally hit the goblin with her rapier. Together, the paladin and the sorcerer killed the hobgoblin and the party fled the castle, scared that more reinforcements might appear. Return to Cragmaw Castle After setting up camp, the adventurers decided that Draco should keep watch while the other two rest. Not long after Thorin and Xanaphia were snoring, Draco heard the howl of wolves in the distance coming from the castle. He woke up Thorin and Xanaphia and the three packed up their belongings and attempted to climb up the tree. Thorin succeeded rather easily, despite his length. but the sorcerer and the bard could not succeed in their attempts. The howls sounded again, closer this time, and the light of torches appeared through the dense forest trees. Draco jumped up into the tree Thorin was in, and Thorin helped him in while Xanaphia tried to scale another tree, but failed again. As she landed on the ground, three large hobgoblins with two wolves burst into the small clearing the adventurers set up their camp earlier. Thorin, quick to act, jumped down and ran to Xanaphia, raising his shield to protect her. Just as well, one of the hobgoblins charged her and tried to attack, but the paladin blocked the attack with his shield. Draco waved his hands and uttered an incantation. From his fingers spring forth three bolts of magic missiles and hit one of the hobgoblins restraining the wolves, killing it. The wolves charged Thorin and Xanaphia, but both missed their lethal bites. The remaining hobgoblin aimed his bow from where the magic missiles appeared and fired, hitting Draco and causing the elf to be knocked unconscious. On the ground, Thorin swung his axe at the hobgoblin and killed it while Xanaphia tried to stay out of the vicious bites of the wolf in front of her. After Thorin succeeded in grappling the wolf now snapping at him with its powerful jaws, the dwarf tried to tame the beast. Xanaphia saw this and decided to tame the wolf attacking her as well. The bard succeeded in her attempt and managed to not only sooth the beast, but make it into her companion. Thorin failed again in its attempt to tame his grappled wolf, and after seeing it was too loyal to its former masters, snapped its neck. Draco managed to stop bleeding to death and regained consciousness. The adventurers set up camp again and rested, planning to return to the Goblin Castle the next morning. And indeed the next morning they returned, entering through the front door as they had done previously. Sneaking through the the door to the opposite end of the entrance, they found themselves in a large chapel with the walls and high ceiling decorated with statues of angelic figures and intricate stonework. They decided to explore deeper into the ruined, dark room. Just then, a large, worm-like creature with a slimy body and tentacled mouth dropped from the ceiling unto Thorin. With its four tentacles it latched onto the dwarf's face and with its powerful bird-like beak bit at the paladin. Thorin sustained a large injury from this sudden attack. Xanaphia's tamed beast (now named Wolfie) charged in and bit the monstrosity, ripping it off the dwarf's face. Xanaphia followed suite and sliced at the creature with her rapier. However, as the adventurers soon were to discover, the creature was highly resistant to any damage from their weapons, while it managed to deal a great amount of damage to them. Luckily it was not resistant to magical damage, and Draco managed to whittle it down with his ray of frost spell and his poison spray magic, together with the ineffective weapon strikes of Thorin and Xanaphia and the bites of Wolfie. When the creature was finally killed, the adventurers decided to peek behind the large curtains hanging from the northern wall in the chapel. There they saw three goblins clad in robes, seeming to pray at an altar. They charged in, quickly killing one of the acolytes with another Magic Missiles spell from the sorcerer. The two remaining goblins attacked Xanaphia and Thorin, but missed. However, the goblins used their nimbleness to their advantage and ran out of melee range without invoking any opportunity attacks. Thorin and Xanaphia charged closer while Draco cast his spells from afar. Eventually only one goblin remained, which tried to flee to the chapel. Xanaphia chased him and knocked him over. They began interrogating the goblin, asking it where Gundren can be found. After the dwarf gave very poor directions, Thorin killed it. Remembering that he (Thorin) still had three unknown potions from their adventures in Tresendar Manor, he tested them to reveal their nature. Learning that one was a healing potion and the other a potion of invisibility (the remaining one was a failed potion), the dwarf, after healing his battle wounds with the healing potion and his own magic, imbibed the potion of invisibility and started to scout the rest of the castle in search of Gundren. Moving east through the door, he explored a room to the south. As he opened the door, he saw the remains of what must have once been a great library. However, with a loud and awful screech, an owlbear, a bear with the head of an owl, charged the door, Thorin managed to close the door just in time. The beast angrily bashed the large iron door to the library. Suddenly two hobgoblins opened a door just to the north to search for the reason of the noise. Since Thorin was still invisible, they walked right passed the dwarf. Seeing nothing of interest, they left the room and returned to their quarters. Thorin followed, but could not continue through the door to the north (leading to King Grol and Gundren), since that would alarm the hobgoblins. Thorin returned to his friends in the chapel and shared his findings with them. They devised a strategy to lure the hobgoblins out, and so, after everyone took their placed, begun their plan. Xanaphia chanted her incantation, causing a figure of a sexy young goblin to shimmer into existence at the entrance of the hobgoblins' quarters. One immediately followed after it. Just as he reached the door to the chapel, he was ambushed by Thorin from behind. With a quick spray of poison, Draco melted the flesh of the humanoid, killing it. The remaining hobgoblin entered the room to see what was going on, and was ambushed again and killed by Xanaphia and Wolfie. The adventurers readied themselves and stepped through the hobgoblin quarters into the room of King Grol. As they entered, the found themselves in what seemed to be a giant bedroom with a table in the middle, King Grol, a large and old bugbear sitting at the end facing them running his ugly hand over the head of his ferocious pet black wolf. To the east side of the room lay Gundren in a pool of blood. King Grol smiled and greeted the adventurers and said, ''"I've been expecting you." '' Xanaphia questioned the king, asking about the Black Spider. He refused to share any information, and after revealing that he intended to kill Gundren, Xanaphia responded that he left them no choice. Xanaphia charged the King and attacked while Thorin helped. Wolfie charged King Grol's pet wolf, and Draco started flinging spells at the bugbear. King Grol, refusing to be beaten by a petty group of lowlifes, raised his morningstar and swung it at the sorcerer, knocking him unconscious with one mighty blow. Wolfie managed to kill Ripper, King Grol's pet, and charged the Giant bugbear king, biting it and knocking him prone. Just then, Gundren raised from his puddle of blood and, with a wild look in his eyes, charged Xanaphia, swinging his sword and knocking her unconscious as well. Thorin revived the bard with his holy healing magic, and Xanaphia, now concious, started whispering a dissonant song to Gundren. Clutching his head in his hands, he ran away from Xanaphia into a small room to the north. King Grol raised from his prone state and screamed as he raised his weapon again, this time aiming for Wolfie. His attack hit, and he killed Xanaphia's pet. Just then, Draco chanted an incantation, praying the bugbear king and causing it to melt into a pool of goop. __FORCETOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__